Pet Snakes -

Pet Snakes provides easy to understand, practical information and facts to help the new snake owner take care of their animals. At Pet Snakes we want to provide information that will help you enjoy your reptile more than ever.

3 reasons Ball Pythons make great pet snakes

Ball Pythons (aka royal or regal pythons) are great pet snakes for several reasons. In this article we will focus on 3 of those reasons.

Ball Pythons are affordable
Due to their popularity Ball Pythons can be found for very little money. I’ve seen male wild types selling for as little as $15. They were most likely wild caught specimens. Ball Pythons are famous for their wide assortment of morphs and those can cost tens of thousands of dollars each if they are one of a kind animals. The average pet owner, or even hobby keeper won’t have any need to buy a snake that expensive.

Ball Pythons are easy to keep
They are considered great snakes for novices for several reasons:

They are docile. Ball Pythons rarely show aggression towards people

Their small size makes them easy to house. Only the largest of female ball pythons will get over five feet.

Small cages are perfect for them. They don’t need to climb as they are terrestrial snakes and they spend most of their time in their hides instead of moving about their enclosure.

Small rats or large mice will feed even the largest Ball Python. That means you won’t have a huge food bill trying to buy it chicken and guinea pigs every week or two.

There are some disadvantages to having a Ball Python. For example they can be finicky eaters especially during the winter months. It’s not uncommon to have one of these snakes that refuses to eat for several months. This can be frustrating for an experienced keeper let alone a novice. Another issue with keeping Ball Pythons is that they are a native to a wide variety of sub-tropical and tropical locations and the temperature and humidity in their cages needs to be regulated to mimic their natural environment.

Ball Pythons are great with kids
I mentioned before that they rarely show aggression towards people. This is a great trait around children. In fact a staple of live reptile shows featuring snakes being handled by kids has always been the Ball Python. They tolerate a lot of poking, prodding, and other kinds of abuse. If you have kids this is a great snake to get them to start out with.

It would be wrong to leave you with the impression that they never become aggravated. As docile as they are 99 percent of the time they are still wild animals. From time to time they can and do bite, strike, and hiss at people. For instance when they are in the middle of shedding they can be more sensitive than normal.

Ball Pythons are great pets for both the first time snake owner as well as the seasoned keeper. They make a good learning tool to teach children about these amazing animals, are easy to keep, and affordable. Here is more information about the ball python.